CPU overclocked from (1x) 150Mhz (1.1v) to (2x) 300Mhz (1.2v), possibly to (3x) 460Mhz (1.5v) – other have driven the RP2350B to over 600Mhz (2v).
DeMon has 16MB flash, at boot it programs FireStorm (FPGA), simulate the SD card from the SG2000. FRAM is accessed via GPIO-47.
This will connect to the SWD port of the “QWM” chip and “Pulse Sequencer” chip. This will allow it to program those components with their firmware (if it needs updating) and provide hardware debugging for any of the components.
Debug streams will also be sent back from each component and then to the “main processing unit”.
It will be able to reset any of the components remotely. The debug monitor will also control the boot state and act as a watchdog for the SG2000 “main processing unit”.
DeMon can act as an SPI slave for the SG2000, it emulates an SD card interface.
The DeMon is actually a RP2350B chip that has connections to the hardware debug ports of the other chips.
USB host for keyboard, mouse, joypad.
DeMon has 8MB PSRAM available.
The real-time clock chip is the Microchip MCP74910 (64 bytes battery backed SRAM, 128 bytes EEPROM, 8 bytes protected EEPROM, supports 2001 to 2399, cost is less than £1). The battery is a CR2450 as it has much more power than a standard ”coin” battery, can last up to 20 years!
An ESP-C5-WROOM-1-N16R4 chip will be connected to DeMon. This will bring 2.4Ghz/5Ghz Wifi (802.11b/g/n/ax), Thread 1.3, Zigbee 3.0 and Bluetooth 5.3 (LE) and Bluetooth mesh, Remote "debrick".
Debugging will be supported via the Wifi (2.4Ghz, router needed, up to 54mbps), Bluetooth (2mbps) or ESP Now (2.4Ghz/5Ghz, no router needed, 1mbps), or 62.5Mbps over SPI (in practice this may be closer to 10mbps).
Optional Waveshare Core1262 HF LoRa Module (SX1262) for possible LoraWAN or/and Meshtastic use.
An internal micro SD card provides 256GB (default, replaceable) internal storage.
| Start address | End address | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 000000 | 7FFFFF | 800000 | 8MB SRAM |
| 800000 | FFFFFF | 800000 | Reserved |
| GPIO | Function | GPIO | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | SPI0 RX/MISO - JTAG TDI from FireStorm / SG2000 | 29 | Power LED G |
| 1 | SPI0 CSn - JTAG TMS | 30 | Power LED B |
| 2 | SPI0 SCK - JTAG TCK | 31 | Neopixel data (8 LEDs) |
| 3 | SPI0 TX/MOSI - JTAG TDO | 32 | Power off |
| 4 | FireStorm Reconfig | 33 | Power pushed |
| 5 | FireStorm Ready | 34 | Cartridge DETECT (CD) |
| 6 | FireStorm Done | 35 | CI1303 PG_EN (PA4) |
| 7 | Handshake ESP-C5 GPIO10 | 36 | TX1 - to CI1303 |
| 8 | TX1 ESP-C5 GPIO12 (RX) | 37 | RX1 - from CI1303 |
| 9 | RX1 ESP-C5 GPIO11 (TX) | 38 | PWM 10B LCD light |
| 10 | ESP-C5 EN (wifi on/off) | 39 | LCD & TOUCH RESET/RES |
| 11 | ESP-C5 GPIO28 (auto program) | 40 | LCD CMD/DATA/DC/RS |
| 12 | TX0 to SG2000 RX0 | 41 | SPI1 SELECT 0 |
| 13 | RX0 to SG2000 TX0 | 42 | SPI1 SELECT 1 |
| 14 | I2C1 SDA cart + cap touch | 43 | SPI1 TX/MOSI/SDA ESP-C5 GPIO |
| 15 | I2C1 SCL | 44 | SPI1 RX/MISO ESP-C5 GPIO |
| 16 | SPI0 (SG2000 slave) RX/MOSI SD emulation | 45 | SPI1 CSn |
| 17 | SPI0 (SG2000 slave) CSn | 46 | SPI1 SCK/SCL - capacitive touch screen ESP-C5 GPIO9 |
| 18 | SPI0 (SG2000 slave) SCK | 47 | FRAM |
| 19 | SPI0 (SG2000 slave) TX/MISO | SWDIO | Cart port |
| 20 | SG2000 RESET | SWDCLK | Cart port |
| 21 | I2C1 Interrupt | ADCREF | |
| 22 | Pulse/QMK RUN (hi = on, lo =off) | 3V3 | |
| 23 | Pulse/QMK SWD CLK (SM0) | BOOTSEL | |
| 24 | Pulse SWD IO | USB D- | Keyboard |
| 25 | QMK SWD IO | USB D+ | (12Mbps) |
| 26 | Buzzer | RUN | Hardware reset button to 3v3 |
| 27 | Pulse Interrupt | 3V3 EN | |
| 28 | Power LED R | VBUS |
Using SPI1, and different CSn lines, DeMon controls:
| Value | Selected Device |
|---|---|
| 0 | Pulse Sequencer |
| 1 | ESP32-C5 GPIO 10 |
| 2 | Cartridge |
| 3 | Touch TFT |
| Pin | Function | Pin | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GND | 28 | GND |
| 2 | 3v3 | 27 | IO26 - SX1262 SCK |
| 3 | EN - DeMon GPIO12, resistor to gnd | 26 | IO25 - DeMon GP43 MISO |
| 4 | IO2 - SPI Q/MISO - DeMon GP43 (set to 1 via resistor = 48Mhz crystal) | 25 | IO11 - TX to DeMon RXD |
| 5 | IO3 (set to 0 via resistor = 3.3v flash) | 24 | IO12 - RX to DeMon TXD |
| 6 | IO0 – SX1262 MOSI (set to vcc via resistor) | 23 | IO23 - NSS |
| 7 | IO1 – SX1262 MISO | 22 | NC |
| 8 | IO6 SPI CLK - DeMon GP46 | 21 | IO15 SX1262 D0 - Input button |
| 9 | IO7 SPI ID/MOSI - DeMon GP44 | 20 | NC |
| 10 | IO8 – Handshake - DeMon GP8 | 19 | NC (using internal PSRAM) |
| 11 | IO9 – SX1262 RF_SW | 18 | IO27 – SX1262 RST |
| 12 | IO10 SPI CS0 (IN) DeMon CS | 17 | *IO4 – SX1262 Busy |
| 13 | IO13 – SX1262 TX (d6) | 16 | *IO5 – SX1262 DIO1 |
| 14 | IO12 - SX1262 RX (d7) | 15 | IO28 - (in) auto-program (Demon GPIO11, set to 1 via resistor) |
A 30-pin edge connector cartridge port (42mm 2.54 pitch wide) is connected to DeMon. If present, then this is booted in preference to the SD card slot. If a cart is inserted or swapped whilst powered on, the Ant64 will normally automatically be rebooted to it (this can be disabled in options). However, a cartridge can safely be removed whilst powered on and the Ant64 will not reboot, reinserting the same cartridge will also not reboot.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GND | 3.3v | CS | RX/MISO | SCK | TX/MOSI | CD | DeMon ICP SWDCLK | DeMon ICP SWDIO | RESET | DeMon SCL | DeMon SDA | IRQ | 5v | LED |
| HSTX0 | HSTX1 | CRAM CS | CRAM MISO | CRAM SCK | CRAM MOSI | HSTX2 | HSTX3 | HSTX4 | HSTX5 | Pulse SCL | Pulse SDA | HSTX6 | HSTX7 | GND |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
Pins A and 15 on the cartridge will extend further than others. The cartridge has been designed so that a “ROM” cart can be a simple single sided PCB (the letter side), the other side being for enhanced "Pulse" cartridges. The port also allows in-circuit programming of the DeMon chip (the boot system).
| No | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Power | Off, white during self test, then amber during boot, green when fully booted |
| 1 | Internal micro SD | None=off, blue = detected, green = read/write, red = error |
| 2 | Cartridge (SD) | None=off, blue = detected, green = read/write, red = error |
| 3 | Main (fast) SD | None=off, blue = detected, green = read/write, red = error |
| 4 | Network | None=off, blue = connected, green = read/write, red = error |
| 5 | WiFi | None=off, blue = connected, green = read/write, red = error |
| 6 | Bluetooth | None=off, green = read/write, red = error |
| 7 | Midi | None=off, green = read/write, red = error |
The ESP32 can unbrick DeMon remotely over wifi, or via the ICP cartridge.
Important: The Ant64 family of home computers are at early design/prototype stage, everything you see here is subject to change.